Syria: President Assad's forces shell rebel-held town of Qusair

Amateur footage shot by rebel fighters in Syria appears to show regime forces
pushing into the town of Qusair, a strategic opposition-held town near the
Lebanese border,

3:53PM BST 20 May 2013

Syrian government troops and Hizbollah fighters from Lebanon who laid siege to Qusair weeks ago have launched an offensive to regain control of the town, with Hizbollah's elite fighters advancing from the east and south.

Hizbollah troops claim they took control of the main square and the municipal building in the centre of the town in a few hours.

The air and tank assault on the strategic town of 30,000 people appeared to be part of a campaign by Assad's forces to consolidate their grip on Damascus and secure links between the capital and government strongholds in the Alawite coastal heartland via the contested central city of Homs.

The government campaign has coincided with efforts by the US and Russia, despite their differences on Syria, to organise peace talks to end a conflict now in its third year in which more than 80,000 people have been killed.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks Syria's civil war, said that more than 100 Hizbollah members have been wounded in the fighting.

A staunch ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad, Hizbollah is heavily invested in the survival of the Damascus regime and is known to have sent fighters to aid government forces.

Western countries and Russia, an ally of Damascus, back opposing sides in this regional free-for-all which is also sucking in Israel. Three times this year Israeli planes have bombed presumed Iranian arms stocks destined for Hezbollah.